1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computing devices and, more particularly, to media players.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal computers often include disk drives to provide mass storage of data. A disk drive (also known as a hard drive) has a disk that stores data magnetically and includes a read/write head to read or write data to the disk of the disk drive. The read/write head, when in use, scans over the disk at a very close distance. Normally, personal computers are stationary when being used and thus not subjected to significant vibrations. However, when personal computers are moved or otherwise not stationary, abrupt movements of the personal computers can result in significant vibrations. Such significant vibrations can cause the read/write head to undesirably make physical contact with the surface of the disk. Such undesirable physical contact can lead to loss of data and/or physical damage to the disk. When disk drives are not in use, the read/write head is placed in a park position such that the read/write head is not placed over the disk and thus cannot physically damage the disk or the data stored thereon.
In recent times, computing devices have become smaller and more compact. For example, there is a class of computing devices known as handheld computing devices. Handheld computing devices are sometimes more specialized computing devices than are general-purpose personal computers. For example, one type of handheld computing device is a portable (or personal) media player. Media players can also be referred to as consumer electronics products. A media player plays media, such as MP3 files, compact discs or DVDs, for the benefit of a user. The media player can utilize a disk drive to provide mass storage of media content that is played by the media player. The disk drive can remain in an “off” or “inactive” state such that the read/write head is often parked. However, when the disk drive is “on” or “active” and data is to be read from or written to the disk drive, the read/write head is susceptible of damaging the disk should vibrations occur during such read/write operations. Some disk drives advantageously include a shock sensor to detect shock levels, and when a substantial shock is detected, the read/write heads are stored over the center of the disk.
Conventionally, a cache memory is used to temporarily store media data that will soon be played. The cache memory offers rapid data access and reduces the need for constant access to the disk drive. Nevertheless, even with the use of a cache, a media player will periodically need to access the disk drive to refresh the cache contents with additional media data that is soon to be played by the media player. However, when such refresh is required, the presence of vibrations due to abrupt movements of the media player can lead to various problems. In particular, the vibrations can lead to physical damage of the disk drive as well as loss of data on the disk drive. Hence, there is a need to provide improved techniques to access data stored on a disk drive in the case of highly portable computing devices, such as media players, that are often used in conditions that may lead to vibrations.